Sunday, January 9, 2011

The Gods Must Be Crazy! an Interview with Ashley Blade

Today I have the pleasure of sitting down with the very talented author, Ashley Blade.  For those of you who may not have yet had the opportunity to meet Ashley she is not only an outstanding author but she is a soccer mom, a car saleswomen extraordinnaire, as well as a book junkie in her own rights. 

Ok, first let me say, congratulations, Ashley on your novel! Why don’t you tell us a little bit about  your latest release.

Thank you, I can’t tell you how excited I am about being here today. My newest release is called Murder 4 Hire: The gods must be crazy. A while back my publisher wanted us to submit for an anthology. It could be fantasy or paranormal, but it had to be something besides mainstream. I decided I would take Ike out of her natural elements. In this book, Ike is hired to find Ares son Alek. He was kidnapped by Persephone and Ike only has until Christmas to find him. Of course it’s not as easy as it sounds. Besides having to find Alek, Ike comes face to face with Hades, a hydra, a hell hound and a couple of other mythical creatures. You’ll have to read the story to see how Ike fairs though. LOL! (Turns out Ike 2 became a stand alone.)

Oooh, I love Greek god stories!  How fun.

So, Where do you find your inspiration?

My inspiration comes from everything. I can’t read anything or watch anything without saying hmm I wonder if you threw this in, or that in, what would happen. Like with my new story for Ike. I threw the mythical aspect at her and hung on for the ride.


Do you have an excerpt from your book that you’d like to share?

I sure do. For your entertainment M4H: The gods must be crazy.


Book Versions
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Even gods need a hired gun every now and then.

The holidays just got a little crazier for Ike the assassin. Still in turmoil over her boyfriend’s missing kids, the ante is upped when Ares – god of war- requests Ike’s special skills. Find his kidnapped son or the whole world goes to Hades. Literally!

GenreAction
LengthNovel
Heat LevelCarnal
Excerpt:

They pulled up to the gate and waited. The skeptical part of Ike’s brain had been working overtime since she talked to Shiloh. Or was it Ares? Fuck, she didn’t know, but Ike had to admit she was curious. How would you prove you’re a god? Ugh, what the hell. This was crazy…like bat shit crazy! The only people who claimed they were gods were the clinically insane.

Glancing down at her watch, Ike tapped her foot nervously. He was almost twenty minutes late and she was ready to leave. “Fuck this,” she hissed as she placed her hand on the ignition.

“What was that?”  Hannah squeaked as the car began to shake.

Ike peered out the window, but didn’t see what was making Hannah jumpy.
“Your over-fucking-active imagination.”  The car shook again and this time Ike gasped.

The car continued to shake violently. With each shudder of the car Ike wondered if Alabama had earthquakes. Each sway of the vehicle had Hannah screaming. Ike wished she could just backhand her. Thomas, on the other hand, seemed calm and collected as he rode it out. Ike wasn’t sure whether she wanted to slap Thomas out of it too or if he had the right idea.
Gripping the steering wheel, Ike cursed everything that was holy and promised if they made it out of this situation she would kick Shiloh’s ass.


“Hannah, if you don’t stop your screaming, I swear I will kill you when this is done. You feel me?” Hannah nodded and settled down as the vehicle stopped moving.

“What the hell is that?” Thomas asked pointing out the front windshield.

“Whoa,” Hannah whispered.

“Chill out you two, I am sure there is a logical explanation for all of this.” She leaned forward to get a better view of, a fucking foot? There was no way in hell that was possible. Ike tried to get out of the car, but the lock wouldn’t budge. Growling, she took in the scene. The foot she could see clearly was covered in a leather sandal. The design wrapped around the person’s ankle and criss-crossed up his calf and stopped, she assumed, before the back of their knee. Ike closed her eyes, counted to ten and opened them, hoping she was imagining what she saw. No dice. It was definitely real.

Ike watched as the foot bent forward and slowly the leather clad torso and a giant head came into her line of vision. Before she could focus on the man’s face, he was gone. The ground shook again. Ike was getting bored with the whole scare the shit of you act. Reaching for the handle once more, she pulled. The door opened with ease. “Show yourself asshole!”

“Now will you help me Ike?” Shiloh asked. Gone were the leather sandals, breastplate, and a simple square knee-high skirt that reminding her of a Roman or Greek soldier. Before Ike stood a man wearing jeans a nice buttoned down shirt and a pair of wing tipped shoes. This was the man she had met only a day earlier. His red eyes swirled with a milky silver color before going back to their translucent red.

Okay, that’s fucked up, Ike blinked. The false bravado she clung to so tightly was gone. She tried to speak, but nothing would come. Her reality had literally been shaken apart. Taking a deep settling breath, she laughed. If she was going insane, she might as well do it in style. “Sure, when do we get started?”

*End Scene*

Awesome!  That completely rocked!

Tell me, Ashley - alot of authors like to listen to music to get them in the mindset of their story -

Do you listen to music when you write? and if so, what music?

Yes I do. I listen to everything. My Itouch is fill with everything from Elton John and David Bowie to Adam Lambert and Ozzy Osborn. Ike has her own set of music, most of it is hard, face paced Rage Against the Machine, type of music. My vampires have Marilyn Manson. I have stripper music in case I need it for a story or two and I have my music for some of my BDSM books. (We’ll talk about those another time.)

So what are you writing now?

Right now I have a couple of different stories on my plate. A friend and I are writing Ike 3. We are collaborating both of our series into one. I think you all will like it. I also just completed a Valentine’s story and am working on an April Fools story too. When those are done I am starting a spin off series with Ike’s side kick Hannah. 


Who would you say is/was your biggest inspiration and why?

That is easy, author wise, Mrs. Hannah Howell. She is an amazing author and I like to call her my Facebook buddy, along with Kate Douglas, Dakota Cassidy and a couple of others. But all of them make me want to be a better author. I know I may never sell a million copies of anything I write, but dang this is fun. As for personal wise, I would say my daughter. She is the reason I do this. She is why I work so hard at my craft. I would hope as my books continue to be released *crossing fingers* they will get better and more people will pick them up. But I do it all for her.

What do you find to be the hardest thing about creating your stories?

Being fresh. There are so many stories out there that blend together. I feel like sometimes I pick up a book and have read the story before, only I know I couldn’t have. If that makes sense. I think we have put ourselves into these boxes where we have boy meets girl, they fall in love, something happens, they hate each other, something else happens and they fall in love again. We as authors need to break down the box of habit and throw curve balls into our stories. It’s ok to have stories where the mythical meets the paranormal or like with Ike, main stream meets mythical. Put your worlds into a paper bag, shake them up and write about the first two things that come out. It might just be your finest book yet.

Alot of authors get hooked on their own characters - they get beneath our skin and we have to write about them.  Do you have a favorite character?

Ike. I love Ike. I know I say it all the time, but I do. To me she is everything I wanted to be and then some. She is the one person I would call if I needed help and the one person I could always call best friend.

What are reading right now?

I just finished His Christmas Gift: Myrna’s Submission. I received an ARC copy from my friend Dakota Trace and I have to say it is one of her finer books. It’s about Myrna’s reawakening into the world of BDSM after her husband abandon’s her and their son. It’s actually part of Dakota series. Which is also going to be part of Ike’s too. If you all get the chance, please pick her book up, I promise you won’t regret it.

And now that we're all completely hooked on you - Where can readers learn more about you?

I am in between sites right now. I want something functional and I can add my own elements, but playful that really shows me. So far, I haven’t found that. Right now the best way to find me is at www.ashleybladereviews.blogspot.com I am hoping to have a real site soon so stay tuned.

Thank you so much for sharing your work with us today - we look forward to more of Ike's story.

Thank you KA for allowing me to be with you today, I had a blast! Oh and thank you readers for stopping by too. Without your support, we wouldn’t be here!!

Hugs and Kisses!!!!

Ash.

2 comments:

  1. Great interview, Ash! But really Marilyn Manson while writing? *shudders* Maybe I should wear ear plugs while we're working together?

    Thanks for reading Myrna btw. I'm glad you enjoyed it.

    Dakota

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  2. *laughs* It helps put me in the right frame of mind...don't say it. Or else Ike will be coming to see you, again. *smiles sweetly* Ike's music is faster and harder than M.M. So you might want them for that.

    Thanks D...oh and you're welcome. I can't wait to start on 3 with you.

    Ash.

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